Question

I am trying to do something really simple. I want to use an Enum as column type in my Code First solution. I am using Entity Framework 5.0 Stable Release.

Consider my Enums wrapper class and Model:

public class Enums
{
    public enum UserType
    {
        Bronze = 0,
        Silver = 1,
        Gold = 2,
        Admin = 4
    }
}

public class User
{
    public int UserId { get; set; }
    public string UserName { get; set; }
    public Enums.UserType UserType { get; set; }
}

If I generate the database the column UserType is not generated. When I remove the ‘class wrapper’ around my Enum like this:

public enum UserType
{
    Bronze = 0,
    Silver = 1,
    Gold = 2,
    Admin = 4
}
public class User
{
    public int UserId { get; set; }
    public string UserName { get; set; }
    public UserType UserType { get; set; }
}

It DOES gets generated! Is my first setup such an uncommon or ‘please do not’ approach?

I would like to hear some suggestions that are standardized or best practice and/or explanations why my first setup doesn’t work.

Answer 1

Nested types (be it enums, complex types or entities) are not supported by EF.